The Powerful Partnership of Big Data and Social Media Campaigns

Big data and social media can work together to create winning social media campaigns. In fact, social media is big data. Facebook users upload 350 million photos each day, and send three million messages every 20 minutes. On Twitter, more than 6,000 tweets are posted every second. And YouTube users watch a billion hours of video every day.

This ever-evolving social landscape requires businesses to continually find new ways to monitor and analyze the impact of their marketing campaigns, as well as glean insights from previously untapped data sources. Easier said than done, of course. Product analyst Dennis Hung notes that the growing variety, volume, and velocity of data—the classic definition of “big data”—can overwhelm a social media marketer.

Connect With Your Customers

Businesses are discovering new, innovative ways to utilize big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Writing for The Next Web, tech entrepreneur David Geer notes that leveraging social media data is crucial for every consumer-facing business. By using AI technology, a company can analyze activity from vast numbers of social media users, enabling it to create highly targeted ad campaigns with laser-sharp precision.

Dutch brewer Heineken actively uses its huge social media following—combined with partnerships with Facebook and Google—to gain a better understanding of its customers. As reported by Forbes, Heineken’s social media effort is tailored to establish relationships with its customers rather than just filling their feeds with eye-glazing beer ads and forgettable marketing drivel.

In one such campaign, Heineken steered Facebook and Twitter users to the brewer’s “Star Treatment” site, where people could sign up for exclusive events and offers. The effort has enabled the company’s data strategists to study how users react to the timing of and content within their offers, which helps Heineken adjust its campaigns for maximum effectiveness.

Track Your Brand Popularity

Too often, companies lack a reliable way to monitor the health of their reputation—and this is particularly true on social media, where a single incident can damage a brand in an instant. It’s also difficult to quickly analyze how news stories, product launches, advertising, and competitor activity impact your brand.

Therefore, social is an extremely important avenue for marketers. Eighty-five percent of U.S. consumers say they use social platforms, and 58 percent follow brands’ social media, revealed a MarketingSherpa study. Retailers, in particular, benefit from big data and social media solutions that analyze sentiment from popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Customer-driven insights enable companies to target their promotions, products, and overall marketing strategies to match—or sometimes correct—public perception.

Gain Insights to Drive Customer Satisfaction

Digital marketers may wonder: What benefits will we gain from all this social data we’re collecting and tracking? As Fortune points out, social media can deliver deep insights into a user’s location, interests, and profession—information that becomes even more potent when combined with shopping and credit histories. And brands can use social media analytics to find the best ways to interact with their customers.

According to an RSR Research study, retail “winners” understand the value of seeing the total shopping experience. A single view of the customer—from pre-purchase research to post-sales activity such as returns, warranty claims, and social media posts—enables data-savvy retailers to create a more satisfying shopping experience for their customers. Big data tools can help deliver a quick snapshot of consumer opinions on social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, enabling marketers to quickly analyze customer perceptions.

Utilizing data can help you implement a successful social media strategy for your business. The ability to analyze the information you collect can help you better connect with your customers—and potential customers—in order to make a positive impact on your business.

If you’re ready to combine big data and social media, watch this real-time demonstration of collecting and analyzing these valuable insights.